Bashar's question carried a hint of throwing his age around.
The Empire did indeed have a tradition of respecting the elderly and caring for the young. That was an inevitable result of a civilized society's development.
However, Kefu was not much younger than him, only around thirty. More importantly, he was Duo Gan's chief steward.
Given his status, even if the other party was the current Vice Dean of Imperial Capital Academy, Bashar was not qualified to act arrogant before him.
So Kefu answered without the slightest politeness, "I might not be qualified to decide matters for others, but when it comes to you... I am more than qualified."
"Hehe... truly arrogant," Bashar actually commented.
However, he was still throwing his age around. Kefu could not be bothered to deal with him. "Say what you came to say. Stop rambling about this."
"Then give us an explanation," Bashar said bluntly. "Why did you kill people from our academy?"
Kefu answered without hesitation, "They offended my lady's interests and showed disrespect toward a superior... They deserved to die."
"So domineering?" Bashar laughed in anger.
He knew the other side was a tough bone to chew. He had not expected to resolve this matter easily when he came.
Still, the other party's reaction was somewhat unacceptable to him.
But arguments never produced pleasant words, and there was no need to fuss too much over it. So both sides began laying out facts and reasoning things through.
The people from Imperial Capital Academy insisted that their researchers had merely been conducting normal space exploration and had not engaged in mining.
The fee Duo Gan had paid only granted her the relevant Mining Rights. She had no right to obstruct people carrying out other work.
In other words, the people from Imperial Capital Academy